Exiting with a big bang
For UCI Chancellor Ralph Cicerone, the last few weeks must have been
chock full of up-and-down emotions.
The public barely had time to digest the news that he had decided
to leave the university in anticipation of being named president of
the National Academy of Sciences when the campus found itself swirled
in controversy over the actions of Muslim students who chose to wear
religious stoles at their graduation ceremony.
Cicerone was at the heart of that as he stood by the university’s
decision to not stop the students from wearing the stoles that bore
the shahada.
It was simply an expression of religious faith, the college
contends, protected by the 1st Amendment.
Cicerone and his school have taken lots of heat and in turn
received lots of kudos for the stand they took.
Most likely, though, they know that, like all things
controversial, this too will pass.
Then back to reality.
The college is going to be much less and will have a big void with
Cicerone no longer at the helm.
The appointment as president of the academy is a major feather in
UCI’s cap. It means the school has come into its own nationally as a
respected institution of scientific research.
And much of that is because of Cicerone.
The chancellor is a respected atmospheric scientist who holds the
United Nations Environment Program Ozone Award related to his work on
preserving the ozone layer.
Named UCI’s fourth chancellor in 1998, Cicerone has watched the
school’s student population grow by 25%. Under his tutelage, the
amount of federal research money to the campus has nearly doubled to
$235 million, the ability to attract top-flight faculty has
increased, and the university’s sports programs have flourished.
Cicerone, who is part of a high-powered academic team with his
wife, Carol, a professor of cognitive sciences at UCI, and his
daughter, Sara, a graduate student in structural engineering, came to
the campus in 1989 as the founding chair of the Department of Earth
System Science. He later served as dean of the School of Physical
Sciences and as a professor of chemistry.
While his appointment to the National Academy of Sciences is a
huge loss for the school, it is anticipated that it will be a boon at
the same time.
“He’ll have such an impact on research agenda nationwide,” said
Henry Samueli, the co-founder of Broadcom and a recent donor of $20
million to the university. “The fact that he came from UCI will help
future research, and they will hopefully get more funding from the
notoriety.”
That is about the only good news that we can find from his
impending departure.
We are, instead, left to wish him the best of luck and
congratulations on a well-earned, prestigious appointment.
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